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Australian Open 2019
Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-27 January
Coverage: Daily live commentaries on the BBC Sport website, listen to Tennis Breakfast daily from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and watch highlights on BBC TV and online from 19 January.

Australian Open 2019

Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 14-27 January

Coverage: Daily live commentaries on the BBC Sport website, listen to Tennis Breakfast daily from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and watch highlights on BBC TV and online from 19 January.

Murray retirement is sad but he wouldn't want to be making up the numbers – Henman

Posted: Jan 12, 2019

Andy Murray will not have wanted “to be making up the numbers” as he contemplated his future, says his former Davis Cup team-mate Tim Henman.

The three-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one will retire this year because of a hip injury.

And the 31-year-old Scot says next week’s Australian Open could be the final tournament of his career.

“It is sad news, but it doesn’t detract from what an incredible career he has had,” Henman told BBC Sport.

Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Henman, who has been friends with Murray since the Scot was a teenager, was one of many former players and fans offering their best wishes following the announcement in Melbourne on Friday.

Murray is the greatest we have had – Barker
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The moment Murray knew the game was up

The two-time Olympic champion, who will play what could be his final ever game at approximately 07:00 GMT on Monday against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, says he continues to be in “serious pain” as he tries to return following surgery on his right hip a year ago.

The operation came after he took six months off court following his 2017 Wimbledon quarter-final defeat by Sam Querrey in a bid to solve the problem.

Murray, who won Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, says he wants to play at the All England Club this summer before retiring, but admits that might not be possible.

“It has been heading in this direction,” said Henman, who was replaced as British number one by Murray in 2006.

“I know how hard he has been working – I’ve been able to speak to him at different times and I’m close to Jamie Delgado [Murray’s coach].

“With the amount of work he has put in, and we know how professional and diligent he is, 20 months is a long time.

“And with the nature of the injury there were a lot of people who said this was going to happen at some stage.

“He will have ticked every box to give himself the best opportunity to play pain free at the highest level again.

“But the reality is he won’t be able to do that. In professional tennis terms he has seen there isn’t a fix for this hip problem.”

As well as adding the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon titles to his 2012 US Open triumph, Murray finished runner-up in eight other Grand Slam finals, won the 2016 ATP Tour finals and guided Great Britain to the 2015 Davis Cup.

“When you look at the list of his achievements, there are no greater goals you can achieve in our sport,” Henman added.

“His development, from someone who joined us at the Davis Cup as a 16-year-old, and the way his game has progressed and the way he has matured physically and mentality, has been incredible to watch.

“I know he will be immensely proud of those achievements even though he will be disappointed at the moment.”

Henman, who reached four in the world, also struggled with injury in the final stages of his career – although over a much shorter period than Murray.

“I was very lucky when it came to my retirement and it really happened in the space of six or seven weeks where I was struggling with a number of different aspects,” he said.

“My back wasn’t brilliant at that stage. But also my form, the level of play I was playing at, wasn’t where I wanted, I wasn’t improving.

“And if you’re not improving, your ranking is going to go one way and I always believed I was playing in tournaments to win those tournaments.

“After Wimbledon in 2007 I started on the American hard court swing and felt for the first time I was making up the numbers.

“I felt that wasn’t what my career was about and I think Andy has said similar things.

“He feels he can play to a decent level but when he has been contending for Grand Slam titles and number one rankings he doesn’t want to be there making up the numbers.”

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Super Sandgren: Tennys Wins Maiden Title In Auckland

Jan122019

American defeats Norrie to capture glory

What a journey the past year has been for Tennys Sandgren. When the American departed Auckland in 2018, he held two tour-level match wins at 26 years old. This time around, not only does Sandgren have 21 match wins, but he leaves New Zealand with his first ATP Tour title.

Sandgren defeated Brit Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-2 in 79 minutes on Saturday to lift his maiden trophy, completing a tremendous week in which he did not lose a set in five matches.

“I’m a little bit at a loss for words, honestly. A lot of work, a lot of training and a lot of sacrifice goes into even making a final and to get a win, I’m kind of speechless,” Sandgren said on court. “Just grateful that I can be out here, play and compete. I’ve dealt with some injuries, so just to be healthy and playing well, it feels really good.”

Sandgren first burst onto the scene at last year’s Australian Open, where he earned his first two wins against Top 10 opponents and at World No. 97 became the lowest-ranked player to reach the Melbourne quarter-finals since World No. 105 Mikael Tillstrom in 1996. The former University of Tennessee student-athlete would reach his first ATP Tour final in Houston.

But the Auckland championship is Sandgren’s shining moment, as he broke his left-handed opponent’s serve four times and hit seven aces en route to the biggest triumph of his career. Perhaps it’s fitting that the victory came against Norrie, who was a first-time tour-level finalist.

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“I think Cam’s beaten me like 18 times in a row,” Sandgren joked after his semi-final victory against German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber on Friday. In fact, Norrie defeated the American in three consecutive ATP Challenger Tour events in September and October of 2017.

But Sandgren would not be denied in Auckland. The American did a tremendous job of turning defence into offence throughout the match. And while Norrie saved eight of the 12 break points he faced, Sandgren was too strong. The 27-year-old adds 250 ATP Rankings points to his total, and earns $90,990 in prize money.

While Norrie will be disappointed to not lift his first ATP Tour trophy, he has plenty to be proud of. The Brit, who grew up in Auckland, dropped just one set en route to the championship match. And for his efforts, he claims 150 points and $49,205.

Did You Know?
Sandgren’s win in Auckland — and the 250 ATP Ranking points that come with it — is especially timely. The American will drop 360 points on the Monday after the Australian Open ends thanks to his quarter-final result last year. Sandgren starts his 2019 Australian Open against Yoshihito Nishioka

Kokkinakis Qualifies For Australian Open; Krueger To Face Djokovic

Jan112019

Ten qualifiers to make Melbourne main draw debuts

Thanasi Kokkinakis achieved a career first on Friday at the Australian Open: securing his place in a Grand Slam main draw as a qualifier. The 22-year-old Adelaide native defeated Canadian Peter Polansky 6-4, 6-4 to take his place in the 128-man field.

While this may be Kokkinakis’ first time qualifying for a major, it will be his 10th Grand Slam main draw appearance – and fourth at the Australian Open. He reached the second round in 2014-15 and bowed out in his opener last year (l. to Medvedev). He will play Japan’s Taro Daniel in the first round.

After fighting for his place in the main draw, American Mitchell Krueger earned a first-round clash with World No. 1 and six-time champion Novak Djokovic. The 24-year-old Krueger won all of his qualifying matches in three sets, including a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Marco Trungelliti in the final round.

Two other Americans, Christopher Eubanks and Bjorn Fratangelo, also qualified and will respectively play No. 18 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili and No. 29 seed Gilles Simon. Eubanks defeated Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-3, while Fratangelo rallied past Ze Zhang 6-7(4), 7-6(1), 6-1.

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A total of 10 qualifiers, including Krueger and Eubanks, will make their Australian Open main draw debuts: #NextGenATP stars Rudolf Molleker and Miomir Kecmanovic, South African Lloyd Harris, Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, Swiss Henri Laaksonen, Italian Stefano Travaglia, 29-year-old Indian Prajnesh Gunneswaran and 30-year-old Gleb Sakharov of France.

Teens Molleker and Kecmanovic will both meet seeded players in their openers, with Molleker facing No. 18 Diego Schwartzman and Kecmanovic confronting No. 26 Fernando Verdasco. In other notable first-round matches, Harris will meet No. 15 seed Daniil Medvedev and Majchrzak will play eighth seed Kei Nishikori.

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Tatsuma Ito, 30, prevailed against Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(6), 0-6, 7-6(10-3) and will face another qualifier, Daniel Evans, in the first round. The 28-year-old Evans, who defeated Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-3, achieved his best Grand Slam results at the 2017 Australian Open, when he reached the fourth round (l. to Tsonga).

Serbian Viktor Troicki will make his 11th main draw appearance in Melbourne after defeating Darian King 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Italy’s Luca Vanni eased past Hiroki Moriya 6-2, 6-2 and will challenge 23rd-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in his opener.

'He's the greatest we have had' – Barker's emotional Murray tribute

Posted: Jan 11, 2019

Andy Murray is the “greatest we have ever had” says “devastated” BBC tennis presenter Sue Barker after the Briton revealed he plans to retire this year.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Murray, 31, is being forced to quit because of a hip injury.

The Scot will play at next week’s Australian Open but admitted it could be the final tournament of his career.

“To watch him this morning in tears in that media room, it just shows what it means to him,” Barker told the BBC.

“It is the realisation that he is facing the fact that his career is coming to an end sooner rather than later.”

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Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray, who has also won two Olympic titles and been a world number one, made the announcement in an emotional press conference in Melbourne on Friday.

He said he continues to be in “serious pain” as tries to return to the sport following surgery on his right hip a year ago, and while he wants to play Wimbledon this summer before retiring, he admits that might not be possible.

“Having seen the footage of Andy training in Philadelphia, jumping over these obstacles in the gym, it looked as though he was getting back to full fitness,” said Barker.

“I was a little disappointed in the tournament he played in Brisbane, then I heard he only won a couple of games against Novak Djokovic and I felt it was all going downhill.”

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‘I was crying for weeks’ – Barker on what is to come for Murray

Barker, who won the French Open in 1976, knows first hand the emotions Murray is feeling having retired from tennis in 1984 after suffering recurrent injuries throughout her career.

She said she was “so, so sad” that Murray was having to end his career in the same way, admitting she wishes “every day” she still played.

“You want to do it on your own terms – not to be forced out because your body breaks down,” she said.

“I had to quit because of injury and I was crying for weeks. I used to wake up in the morning and think ‘what am I getting up for now?’.

“Every day had been planned around tennis, whether it was training, nutrition, playing, or travelling, it was my passion.

“I loved my career, and so I know for Andy it is going to be devastating. That is why he is so emotional about it because suddenly something that has been a huge, huge part of your life has been taken away, and I’m not sure how you ever replace that.

“For me, I still wish every day that I could play tennis again. It’s such an incredible, wonderful job to have.”

‘He’s an unbelievable athlete’

Murray’s first Grand Slam title came at the US Open in 2012 but prior to his maiden Olympic triumph later that summer, he had been dealt a heavy blow when he lost the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer.

But just 12 months later, he ended the 77 years of hurt since a British man had last won the Wimbledon singles title, eventually beating Novak Djokovic having let three championship points slip from his grasp.

“The way he dealt with the pressure, and it was immense pressure, to win back in 2013, I just don’t know how he did that,” said Barker. “It was a moment we will all remember forever.

“He is definitely the greatest we have had. The manner in which he has won matches, when he looks like he is down, he manages to find a way to win,” Barker said.

“He’s a great competitor and he is an unbelievable athlete.”